17th August 2008, 20th Sunday of the Year (A)

“YOUR FAITH HAS SAVE YOU...”

Matthew 15:21-28

It is a busy time in Galilee for Jesus and his disciples. After John the Baptist was killed Jesus withdrew, only to find crowds needing nourishment and he fed more than five thousand people. Crossing the lake he stilled the stormy seas and called Peter to follow him in faith. Then he healed many who were sick in Gennesaret.

He meets a most interesting woman. She was alone in a man’s world and she worried about her daughter who was tormented by a demon. She would not leave Jesus alone. His disciples tried to send her away but she would not leave. In her argument with Jesus, she calls him to a new attitude and he relents and agrees to heal her daughter. No other person in all of Matthew merits Jesus’ remark about “such great faith”.

In todays Church it is easy to develop the attitude that what we have is for ourselves, and only for those who are within our boundaries. Like Jesus we might say that we are sent only to such and such a group, or to people who behave in this or that manner. But in this gospel, we are stretched to new horizons. There are many people knocking on our Church doors whose faith is also great like this Canaanite woman’s. Will we let them in as Jesus did? RENEW International